"Hymn of Promise"

My backyard has been rediscovered.  While doing my Cobra pose in yoga, I have everyday watched the caladiums grow from a seemingly dead bulb to living foliage above the ground.  They did it!  

The caladiums began their journey from the shelves of Ace Hardware in magnificent  splendor to the weather-worn whiskey barrel,  lasting barely a week. I lifted the bulbs, which looked dead to me, and decided to stick them directly in the ground. What was there to lose? I divided them (not carefully)  and planted them (not carefully) in 4 different spots with no expectation of them coming back.   Then one morning, during my salutation to the sun, I spotted this spiral of green from the ground.  In the following days, that spiral was joined by other spirals that unfolded to beautiful colors.  They put up quite a fight to break through the ground.  Call me crazy, but I have a new-found respect and now say hello to the caladiums!     

Immediately, I thought of the Natalie Sleeth hymn entitled, “Hymn of Promise.”  

In the bulb,  there is a flower in the seed, an apple tree

In cocoons a hidden promise, butterflies will soon be free.

In the cold and snow of winter there’s a spring that waits to be

unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.  

Pontificating on a caladium bulb is not usual for me.  However, the perseverance of that bulb gave me promise and a renewed faith.  Somehow, despite all of the unknowns of the future and the presence of the Covid-19 pandemic, we have the promise of the bulb to flower and for the butterflies to emerge from their cocoons. Without doubt, you've got to have faith.  

So, the next time you are feeling a little down, maybe you need to burst into song with  “Hymn of Promise” written by Natalie Sleeth.  It is a GREAT way to start the morning.  If you would like to learn more about Natalie Sleeth and her compositions, you may want to check out this article by Dr. C. Michael Hawn.  She is one of my favorite composers.  If you just need to watch the butterflies in my Zinnia garden patch, I've got you covered.  Good luck on your new discoveries!  

Musically Yours,

Becky Jones-Worship and Music Coordinator